Useful

What am I good for? Do I need to be useful? Does my right to live depend on whether I’m useful? Isn’t that missing the point? I am alive. That’s reason enough. The flowers don’t ask if they have the right to exist, so neither will I. My movement, my actions, my everyday living carves my name on this earth. If I belong, it is only because I’ve decided that I belong. Somewhere in our lives we may have skulked to the sidelines. We’ve decided that someone else needs to give us permission to live. That person over there needs to pick us, to tell us to step forward, that we’ve been chosen. At that moment we will squeal and jump up and down, delighting and thrilling because someone found us worthy. Why do we wait? Why do we want someone other than ourselves to call on us? Is it because we don’t feel good enough? Or maybe it’s just because we didn’t think we could. Step up! Stand up and yell, “I want to play.” Run up and join in the game of life. If you want to do something, start doing it. You don’t need discovered. This is your world. You belong. Who you are now is perfect. You are chosen, you are called. By your very birth you are chosen.

For far too long we wait. We stand in line, never cut in front of others. Polite. In life it doesn’t work that way. Yes, kindergartners still need to raise their hands and stand in line, but you aren’t a child anymore. Stand up. Cut in line and do what needs to be done. If you have an idea that will change the world or even change your neighborhood, tell someone. Tell everyone. Write it, yell it, say it. No one is going to call on you because they have no idea you exist. People aren’t mind readers.

The moment you decide to step up won’t be a magical moment. There won’t be angels singing or violins playing. If we want music we will have to play it ourselves. One thing I can promise that seems magical to me, you will see life with different eyes. Life will become more steps to take rather than whether you are approved of or not. I cringe when I hear people stating, I don’t think they like me or she didn’t like what I said. Who cares? I have to focus on myself. Do I like what I am doing? Do I approve of what I am saying. Am I saying what I want to say?

I want to live true to myself. I want to say what resonates in me.

When walking up the steps of a staircase, each step is not wrong. Or a failure. Just as I step up-one step at a time-and then to the next step above, doesn’t make me a failure. No, I’m not at the destination, but I’m stepping up. Each step is necessary. Remove one step and it all falls down. It’s all important. We are all useful.